There are/were distinguished scholars in America (and elsewhere) who question, and reason, and think intelligently about culture and its values. Happily, they don't dive off a cliff and curse the world on their way to the rocks below. They offer reasoned views and don't make blanket condemnations. I'm thinking of people like Jacques Barzun and Donald Kuspit, for example. The tendency to make wholesale and unreasoned judgments against "contemporary" art -- as vague a term as can be uttered -- is nothing but cultural racism. It has all the same features and goals of racism that divides peoples by irrelevant and indefinable attributes for the sake of power.
Intellectual America is very sensitive to racism in all forms and that's one reason why serious cultural scholarship here turns away from totalizing judgments and smug elitism. Good arguments and challenging debates examine new art and much can be said for and against the most provocative work. It is worthless to keep seeking absolutist, grandoise, totalizing divisions between good and bad, etc. It won't even lift an eyelid. As the kids say, "Whaateverr!" WC --- Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Looking at his list of publications - it appears > that Jean-Louis Harouel is a > cultural historian -- so he's not just looking at > French art history -- or at > social history -- but a combination of both -- > giving him the opportunity to > step outside artworld ideology and ask a dangerous > question like "why are > these people are collecting rubbish?" > > > Of course -- since he has not been vetted as an art > expert -- he would never > qualify to curate an exhibit. > > And who knows what his tastes are like. > > He's just a person who can identify trash as such -- > and any janitor can do > that. > > I wonder whether an academic who pursued a similar > inquiry would have much of > a career in America ? > > > > > > > > > > > > with an emphasis on cultural rather than just > political issues. > _____________________________________________________________ > No medical insurance? Click here to protect > yourself and your family. > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/Ioyw6ijmN8NXxhslyHaoZtgxJaopsU > gnGHuZ7J6T8hBNPK8QC1e9Fa/
